Today in Labor History December 21, 1598: The Mapuche, led by cacique Pelentaru, defeated Spanish troops in southern Chile in the Battle of Curalaba. Today in Labor History December 21, 1907: The Santa María School massacre occurred in Iquique, Chile. The Chilean Army attacked striking saltpeter miners and their wives and children, killing over 2,000 and destroying the strike. It […]
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Today in Labor History December 20, 1790: The first American cotton mill began operation in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. The mill, owned by Samuel Slater, employed children aged 4-10. Ann Arnold, aged 9, was Slater’s first employee. The children worked 12-hour days, 6 days per week in the winter. In the summer, they were forced to
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Today in Labor History December 19, 1900: French parliament gave to amnesty everyone who participated in the scandalous army treason trial known as the Dreyfus affair. The scandal began in 1894 when the state convicted Captain Alfred Dreyfus of treason. He was a 35-year-old French artillery officer of Jewish descent, falsely convicted for espionage and imprisoned in Devil’s Island in French
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1820s Today in Labor History December 18, 1829: Scientist Jean-Baptiste Lamark died. He was best known for his discredited theory of inheritance of acquired traits. This is the idea that characteristics acquired during the parents’ lifetime would be passed on to offspring. Scientists later discovered that traits of the parents are passed down to offspring
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Today in Labor History December 17, 1760: Deborah Sampson was born on this date in Massachusetts. Sampson disguised herself as a man in order to fight with the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. She called herself Robert Shirtliff (as in don’t lift my shirt) and stood 5’9”, taller than the average man in those
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